Some Insights I had about Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

TheoMo	02 Jun 2005
Hey I was just lying in bed and I had a number of interesting thoughts about Tarot, so I thought I'd share them: 1) The meaning of each tarot spread should not be forced I think one of the hardest things about doing self-readings with tarot is that so often the questions one asks about (or at least the questions i ask about, lol) are about issues we care about; and since we care about them, we probably have a certain inner expectation about what we *want* the cards to say. I know that for me, there are times i'll do a throw and then stop listening to my insight so as to frame the reading in ways that will make it meet my expectations, as opposed to what the cards might be really trying to say. It is much easier for me to accurately read for others than for myself. So when it comes to self-readings, I've found that the most important thing I can do to make myself a better reader is to practice reading in ways that won't make me "force" the meaning. I kind of picture myself laying the cards down on a pond or puddle of water; to force the meaning means drowning the card -- it has to be treated gently, laid down with respect, or else it gets lost. 2) Time questions become less accurate as timelengths increase. There has been some debate about the accuracy of tarot with time questions. For me, at least, questions regarding daily or even weekly happenings tend to make the most sense. Asking about what might happen over a month, however, and you might get a spread that details events over the course of 6 weeks (or even longer). I once did a weekly spread and the spread detailed stuff that had all happened by Wednesday, lol. Well I was curious what other people thought about these things! agree/disagree? theo

closrapexa	02 Jun 2005
I agree with you in essence, just not in the details. I myself have great trouble reading for myself, but I don't think that it is because I am forcing the meanings of the cards, but very sinply it is a matter of objectivity. I am only human. There are issues for which I have a blind spot, others that I cannot confront no matter how enlightened I may say I am, for a multitude of reasons, be they fear or suppression or something else. Now about the question of time. I usually don't give my qierents accurate times, but only if something is looming on the horizen or not. If I see an event who's energies are high, for example, many majors, then I can make a guess that that event is not too far away. I how far, or near, well, I don't consider myself good enough in order to make such a hypothesese. If, however, the energies are stale and dead, especially in such questions like "When will I get married" or things like that, then I would make a guess that the querent shouldn't hold their breath.:)

MercyMe	02 Jun 2005
I think a lot of things can hinder our ability to clearly read for ourselves. I certainly have experienced many frustrations in self-reading. What I've tried to do is pretend I'm reading for someone else. See, when I read for myself, I tend to rush through the cards because I think I already know what it's referring to. It's like, "Yeah, yeah, got that...know that...what else is new?" LOL. I need to slow down, like when I read for others whose situations I don't know so intimately. When I slow down the cards speak because they have to, since I can't. I rely on the cards to tell me, because I have no other way of knowing. When I approach my own readings that way, I have much better self-reads. My cards are very patient with me...they usually simply tell me the same thing over and over and don't usually resort to gibberish when I'm being a ninny and asking them the same thing over and over. LOL. I've even tried to sidestep things by using different spreads and different decks. "Well, so the Hudes thinks this, let's see what the Robin Wood thinks, shall we?" "Hmmm....well you two must have spoken about this before. I know! I'll ask the Haindl, he's usually too busy meditating to converse much with the rest of you." "Whoa. Well, that wasn't very nice, was it? Sigh....I know, the Gilded...the Gilded is always very clear." And so on...and so on....until I finally just GIVE UP. But see, that is a mess that I could neatly avoid if I simply treated my own readings with the same reverence and care I treat the readings I do for others. When I am being sensible, that's what I have done and it has worked well. ~Mercy

light2000	02 Jun 2005
I theomo. I like see the time at carts, generally the time that cards propose. So i see the month or week that the crad talks. But i think that the majoraty of people who read tarot, ask first for help from the guardian angel, or spirits or the masters....(i do) And for them time doent exist so it can be a litle tricky. But everthing is possible i already was right at the time of the situations very times. But i must say that is in this point that i make more mistakes. Maybe if i offer a clock to my angel...LOL.

Fudugazi	02 Jun 2005
MercyMe wrote: I think a lot of things can hinder our ability to clearly read for ourselves. I certainly have experienced many frustrations in self-reading. What I've tried to do is pretend I'm reading for someone else. See, when I read for myself, I tend to rush through the cards because I think I already know what it's referring to. It's like, "Yeah, yeah, got that...know that...what else is new?" LOL. I need to slow down, like when I read for others whose situations I don't know so intimately. When I slow down the cards speak because they have to, since I can't. It's a bit like learning to listen to someone else, without racing ahead and formulating a response before he's done and we've had time to take it in. There seems to be a direct correlation between strong intuitive ability, and ability to listen to others speak. I've started to think of my cards as "other". Someone I must listen to and not be rude to and interrupt because I think I've got what he's saying before he reached the end of a sentence. Sometimes I do it by sitting there and gazing at the cards, not asking too many questions, just letting insights rise. Sometimes I journal. I find that - as with all journalling and writing - it is generally after some time (it varies) that the breakthrough, the aha! moment, happens. Sometimes I leave cards out for days, or weeks (good thing I have all those decks, eh?). Recently I had a reading out with the Sakki-sakki for about 3 weeks before finally I understood what it was really saying. I thought I had understood within the first five minutes, but there was a Knight of Swords in there and a little voice inside me told me to beware the rush. I just left the reading out and had a look at it for a short while every day, or in passing. One day it happened. I had the breakthrough and understood what it was referring to and the path I had taken. It was an exact description of a process I was in the middle of. At the time I did the throw I was in Knight of Swords mode - quick understanding, impatient, operating from the head - and had missed that. This brings to mind something else I realised - and which is close to your first point TheoMo: different arcana will have different modes of operation, and our understanding of the throw will depend on which point of view we happen to be taking at the time of the throw (like in my example above, when I was seeing the throw from the Knight of Swords point of view). That's why it's good not to put the cards away - or at least, note down the throw and come back to it later. Our point of view might change. At the very least it is important to develop the kind of self-knowledge and detachment that allows us to say to ourselves (in both self-readings and readings for others): ah yes, I am seeing this throw from the Knight of Sword's point of view. The next step in personal development is to be able to shift points of view at will ;)

TheoMo	02 Jun 2005
Thanks all for your thoughts -- everyone has such interesting things to add! Helvetica, I especially liked your comment about learning to listen to the cards, not interrupting them before they say what they have to say. I wonder maybe if different decks speak in different tempos? when people talk about 'clicking' or connecting with a deck, is this a process by which the patterns and pictures on the cardboard press the exact configuration of neurons that then lead to greater insight? just some random thoughts as I type outloud, lol.

moondaisie	02 Jun 2005
This is a really interesting thread! I also love Helvetica's idea of leaving the cards out for a while until the message becomes clear. Sometimes when I do a reading I realize that I am just not in the right frame of mind to interpret what the cards are saying, so in frustration, I will just put them away and get them out another time. I can probably be learing much more and develop my insight more by leaving a spread out and going back to it. Thank you for the insight!~

The Some Insights I had about Tarot thread was originally posted on 02 Jun 2005 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.